6 ms·

The 'switch to firefox' meme-storm and the still-horrible bugginess of mv3 made this inevitable.

by pineconewarrior 4y ago

swinglock 4y ago
You should switch to Firefox.
- pineconewarrior 4y ago
  I have been a firefox user for almost 20 years!
cogman10 4y ago
I wonder what sort of hit to their userbase they'll experience when it finally happens for real. The internet is unbearable without ad blocking.
- staticassertion 4y ago
  Virtually none, I expect. Especially since "without ad blocking" isn't on the table, there will continue to be ad blocking in Chrome.
  - zarzavat 4y ago
    But will the remnant adblocking in Chrome still work a few years down the line? Or will websites circumvent it? That’s the question.
    - staticassertion 4y ago
      Is it the question? No one's really asking it and it's obviously purely speculative.
      - zarzavat 4y ago
        What’s not speculative is that adblockers have to be constantly maintained to remain effective. As websites find new circumventions, adblockers respond with fixes. Manifest v3 freezes the capabilities of adblockers in time (it regresses them). Perhaps it’s sufficient for today’s ads but over time websites will take advantage and the effectiveness of adblockers will wither: websites have a financial incentive to circumvent all those chrome users.
        kmlx 4y ago
        been using ad blocker on safari for years now. no issues.
- 0x457 4y ago
  You overestimate how many people use ad blockers. Many terrified that these "hackers" will steal their credit cards and take in dump in their dinner plate if they install such extension. When I showed Bypass Paywall plugin to some friends, they all freaked out and looked at it like some dark magic. They look at ad blockers the same.
  - cogman10 4y ago
    My assumption is if you are installing chrome, you've got the technical chops to install an ad blocker. Otherwise, you'd be using Edge or Safari.
    - netheril96 4y ago
      If your assumption held true, Chrome's market share would not be so large. Technical people are a minority after all.
    - 0x457 4y ago
      It's a wrong assumption. Installing chrome requires no brains and google pushing it hard. A tool from my Motherboard maker would install chrome and make it default if you don't go into "advanced" install. You can end up with chrome as a default browser without knowing it. Shit, our work MDM policy installs Chrome on every work laptop.
  - tomschwiha 4y ago
    "During the third quarter of 2021, the average global adblocking rate was estimated at 37 percent. Vietnam and China were top of the class, with a respective adblocking penetration rates of 44.7 and 43.7 percent. This was followed by 41.7 percent of surveyed Indonesians and 40.4 percent of surveyed South Africans admitting to using software blocking online advertising. In the United States, 34.2 percent of internet users said they used adblockers." https://www.statista.com/statistics/351862/adblocking-usage/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/351862/adblocking-usage/
    - 0x457 4y ago
- kmlx 4y ago
  > I wonder what sort of hit to their userbase they'll experience when it finally happens for real. The internet is unbearable without ad blocking. close to zero, as there are perfectly fine ad blockers that still work? case in point: been using safari with an ad blocker for years now. no change in web browsing.
faeriechangling 4y ago
The switch to Firefox meme-storm may have ignited but I saw no actual movement of users to Firefox.
- dmix 4y ago
  The vast majority of users wont notice until their extensions and adblocking actually gets broken. Switching browsers is a big ask for a lot of people, especially tech people who have their settings and extensions just right.
fendy3002 4y ago
In a past year I've switched to firefox and only use chrome for work-related stuff. It's quickly becoming a new IE
stonewareslord 4y ago
What do you mean meme storm? Switching to Firefox makes you immune to annoying changes like this... I honestly don't understand why more people, especially on hn, haven't switched over still. As a Firefox user, articles like this are just noise, not a possible attack on my personal privacy. When was the last technical scandal with Firefox? Adding an optional bookmarking service? How are people still defending chrome?
- justanorherhack 4y ago
  The extension management ui is terrible in Firefox and I haven’t been able to figure out how to disable or manage many multiple extensions.
  - stonewareslord 4y ago
    You can't in bulk as far as I know, but can't you just go to about:addons in the URL bar? I don't use more than 5 anymore. How many do you have?
- dsissitka 4y ago
  I tried to make the switch after last week's uBlock Origin Lite post but there are just so many rough edges. For example: 1) You go to https://i.imgur.com/vuUyLnz.gifv https://i.imgur.com/vuUyLnz.gifv. 2) You decide to skip the beginning so you "Right Click > Show Controls" and use the controls to skip the beginning. 3) You decide to skip to the end so you move your mouse over to where the controls should be but they don't reappear. 4) They're gone and the only way to get them back is to "Right Click > Show Controls" again. There are a lot of rough edges like that. I'd almost rather not use browsers than use Firefox in its current state.
  - kevingadd 4y ago
    imgur is intentionally disabling the controls in order to show their custom buggy ones, I don't know what you expect Firefox to do here.
npteljes 4y ago
I don't think the meme-storm has anything to do with it. Desktop Linux is constantly memed, for example at times when MS does something stupid with Windows, and yet, Linux adoption is minor on desktops. People being loud, and putting their word in action are two very different things.

The 'switch to firefox' meme-storm and the still-horrible bugginess of mv3 made this inevitable.

swinglock 4y ago

You should switch to Firefox.

pineconewarrior 4y ago
I have been a firefox user for almost 20 years!

cogman10 4y ago

I wonder what sort of hit to their userbase they'll experience when it finally happens for real. The internet is unbearable without ad blocking.

staticassertion 4y ago
Virtually none, I expect. Especially since "without ad blocking" isn't on the table, there will continue to be ad blocking in Chrome.
- zarzavat 4y ago
  But will the remnant adblocking in Chrome still work a few years down the line? Or will websites circumvent it? That’s the question.
  - staticassertion 4y ago
    Is it the question? No one's really asking it and it's obviously purely speculative.
    - zarzavat 4y ago
      What’s not speculative is that adblockers have to be constantly maintained to remain effective. As websites find new circumventions, adblockers respond with fixes. Manifest v3 freezes the capabilities of adblockers in time (it regresses them). Perhaps it’s sufficient for today’s ads but over time websites will take advantage and the effectiveness of adblockers will wither: websites have a financial incentive to circumvent all those chrome users.
      - kmlx 4y ago
        been using ad blocker on safari for years now. no issues.
0x457 4y ago
You overestimate how many people use ad blockers. Many terrified that these "hackers" will steal their credit cards and take in dump in their dinner plate if they install such extension. When I showed Bypass Paywall plugin to some friends, they all freaked out and looked at it like some dark magic. They look at ad blockers the same.
- cogman10 4y ago
  My assumption is if you are installing chrome, you've got the technical chops to install an ad blocker. Otherwise, you'd be using Edge or Safari.
  - netheril96 4y ago
    If your assumption held true, Chrome's market share would not be so large. Technical people are a minority after all.
  - 0x457 4y ago
    It's a wrong assumption. Installing chrome requires no brains and google pushing it hard. A tool from my Motherboard maker would install chrome and make it default if you don't go into "advanced" install. You can end up with chrome as a default browser without knowing it. Shit, our work MDM policy installs Chrome on every work laptop.
- tomschwiha 4y ago
  "During the third quarter of 2021, the average global adblocking rate was estimated at 37 percent. Vietnam and China were top of the class, with a respective adblocking penetration rates of 44.7 and 43.7 percent. This was followed by 41.7 percent of surveyed Indonesians and 40.4 percent of surveyed South Africans admitting to using software blocking online advertising. In the United States, 34.2 percent of internet users said they used adblockers." https://www.statista.com/statistics/351862/adblocking-usage/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/351862/adblocking-usage/
  - 0x457 4y ago
kmlx 4y ago
> I wonder what sort of hit to their userbase they'll experience when it finally happens for real. The internet is unbearable without ad blocking. close to zero, as there are perfectly fine ad blockers that still work? case in point: been using safari with an ad blocker for years now. no change in web browsing.

faeriechangling 4y ago

The switch to Firefox meme-storm may have ignited but I saw no actual movement of users to Firefox.

dmix 4y ago
The vast majority of users wont notice until their extensions and adblocking actually gets broken. Switching browsers is a big ask for a lot of people, especially tech people who have their settings and extensions just right.

fendy3002 4y ago

In a past year I've switched to firefox and only use chrome for work-related stuff. It's quickly becoming a new IE

stonewareslord 4y ago

What do you mean meme storm? Switching to Firefox makes you immune to annoying changes like this... I honestly don't understand why more people, especially on hn, haven't switched over still. As a Firefox user, articles like this are just noise, not a possible attack on my personal privacy. When was the last technical scandal with Firefox? Adding an optional bookmarking service? How are people still defending chrome?

justanorherhack 4y ago
The extension management ui is terrible in Firefox and I haven’t been able to figure out how to disable or manage many multiple extensions.
- stonewareslord 4y ago
  You can't in bulk as far as I know, but can't you just go to about:addons in the URL bar? I don't use more than 5 anymore. How many do you have?
dsissitka 4y ago
I tried to make the switch after last week's uBlock Origin Lite post but there are just so many rough edges. For example: 1) You go to https://i.imgur.com/vuUyLnz.gifv https://i.imgur.com/vuUyLnz.gifv. 2) You decide to skip the beginning so you "Right Click > Show Controls" and use the controls to skip the beginning. 3) You decide to skip to the end so you move your mouse over to where the controls should be but they don't reappear. 4) They're gone and the only way to get them back is to "Right Click > Show Controls" again. There are a lot of rough edges like that. I'd almost rather not use browsers than use Firefox in its current state.
- kevingadd 4y ago
  imgur is intentionally disabling the controls in order to show their custom buggy ones, I don't know what you expect Firefox to do here.

npteljes 4y ago

I don't think the meme-storm has anything to do with it. Desktop Linux is constantly memed, for example at times when MS does something stupid with Windows, and yet, Linux adoption is minor on desktops. People being loud, and putting their word in action are two very different things.